Debt, like delusion, is one of our dangerous addictions

This year's high school graduates are entering a scary world for job prospects.

Much of the advice they're given is upbeat, about dreaming big and going to college. But statistics pour a cold bucket of reality on their expectations about the future, some of which are unreasonable.

The nation needs more graduates in math, science and engineering, and college graduates in those fields tend to do quite well. But many students, unaccustomed to doing hard scholarly work, tend to avoid those subjects. And the rest often don't have a clear view of job prospects in their field. As digital technology advances, many careers are disappearing and aren't coming back.

Meanwhile, the total level of student debt in the U.S. is now just over $1 trillion. The average student loan debt is more than $24,000. Paying off those loans means delaying buying a home or saving for retirement, both of which take years of earning power and are influenced heavily by compound interest.

Last year's college graduates have an average starting salary of $44,482, but that's only an average. More than a third of 2010 college graduates are working jobs that require less than a high school diploma. About 280,000 Americans with bachelor's degrees are working at minimum-wage jobs. So are 37,000 with advanced degrees. For some, the problem gets worse. When they graduated, members of the class of 2011 held $22,900 in student debt on average; that number has risen to $26,600. Low-wage workers will find it almost impossible to pay off their debt. More than 13 percent of college loans lead to default. Almost7 million Americans 50 and older still owe payments on their college loans.

An estimated 1.8 million college students are graduating this year into a job market that still hasn't recovered from the great recession, with unemployment at 7.5 percent. Many will find their degree useless when it comes to finding a good job in their field. In the U.S., the unemployment rate for those aged 16 to 24 is 16.2 percent, more than double the national rate. That doesn't necessarily mean that college is a bad investment - high school graduates face a jobless rate twice that of college grads.

But what might be most scary is the naivety of recent college graduates about the state of the labor market. A study conducted by consulting firm Accenture found that they grossly overestimate their worth to potential employers. Only 15 percent of the respondents expect to earn less than $25,000, although 32 percent of grads from the previous two years are earning at that level. Nearly two-thirds expect to find jobs in their field of study, but only about half actually do. Among graduates from 2011 and 2012, four in 10 said they are currently underemployed or working in jobs that do not require a college degree.

Another disconnect is in expectations.

While employers want people who are prepared to be productive and contribute to the bottom line, 77 percent of 2013 graduates expect their first employer to provide them with formal training. Meanwhile, employers who hire recent grads likely wonder about what passes for degree-level competency these days - including those who hire college graduates for minimum-wage work.

Yet pleas for reform fall on deaf ears in Congress, which shows little concern or sympathy about the rising costs of college, the number of young people drowning in student debt or the failure of colleges to match the skills of their graduates with the needs of an ever-changing global economy.

Sending students from graduation ceremonies into peonage might work out fine for those who see smaller government as the answer to everything, but it's a recipe for failure, especially if America hopes to keep up with nations with higher standards.

If we expect future generations of American workers to shoulder the debt we're leaving for them - which includes providing retirees with ballooning Social Security and Medicare benefits - we should be looking for ways to make college education more affordable and relevant, not just a profit scheme for usurious lenders.

Those graduates will need good-paying jobs to pay off their own loans eventually, as well as the money the politicians borrow and borrow to make sure the rest of us won't get mad about paying higher taxes for the bills they're running up today.

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Debt, like delusion, is one of our dangerous addictions

This year's high school graduates are entering a scary world for job prospects.